


An Ark Of Our Own

by eroticcannibal



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: (perhaps? I've never written h/c before but I think that's what it is), Bad Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Canon Compliant, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, assholes with hearts of gold, events take place during ME2
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:00:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21749443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eroticcannibal/pseuds/eroticcannibal
Summary: On the edges of Alliance space lies an impromptu, makeshift colony, consisting of the lowest of the low. They know something is coming, even if they have no idea what, so they do what any rag-tag group of mercs and smugglers would do.They decide to build their own ark.
Kudos: 2





	An Ark Of Our Own

**Author's Note:**

> I've been toying with the idea of "what would happen if some other folks tried to do what the Andromeda Initiative was doing" since I started ME:A and I've FINALLY got to writing it. Also I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written RIP me.

The four battle-worn soldiers stood by the impromptu landing site, hidden amongst the nearby trees for cover, or so they hoped. Another stood a little further back in the trees, an Elcor, observing the others. They watched the craft land from a distance, it looked to almost struggle to not hit the ground full-force, smoke billowing and sparks flying. The team kept communication lines quiet as they assessed the situation, guns in hand, ready to fire at a moment's notice. The craft they knew, it was Tashi's junker. But you just couldn't be too careful these days, anyone could fly that thing. 

"This is Tashi. Command, do you read?" came a garbled voice over the communicator. Three of the four soldiers glance at their leader, a fearsome and scarred Krogan who carried a gun so large it could easily kill a softer alien if he just dropped it on them. The Krogan opened the comm line.

"This is Command. Report."

"Mission success, I have the cargo."

There was an air of palpable relief among the group, though the Krogan's guard was not down wholly. He'd seen enough missions go south even at the finish line. 

"Who is on board?"

There was only fizzling static from Tashi's end for a moment as they all waited with bated breath.

"Just... just me."

"What about Naran?"

Silence again, but there was no hopeful anticipation this time. They all knew, it didn't need to be said, but protocol dictated that it would be regardless.

"Killed. On-site security shot her on the way back to the ship. I barely managed to get back to camp."

The Krogan opened his mouth to speak, but his words failed him for a moment. A long time ago, a loss in battle wouldn't have stung quite so much. He was getting soft in his age. 

"I'm sorry, Tashi. Disembark, let's get you back to camp."

The four soldiers and the Elcor approached the junker as the hatch door opened. The door came crashing down to the ground to form a ramp, it's hydraulics long since damaged and not considered a priority use of resources. If it works bad, then it still works. A haggard-looking Asari emerged, carefully wheeling a box down the ramp. Two of the group, an ex-Turian military officer by the name of Tharen and a Batarian bounty hunter known as Sareth, ran over to her, taking over the work of moving the precious cargo safely down the ramp. The Krogan held Tashi firmly around the waist as he helped her down to the others. 

"Concerned, Tashi, you look so tired. Enquiring, may I carry you back to camp?" asked the Elcor, looking down on her with sympathy. She shook her head. 

"Artas, you aren't a bloody horse."

"Insistent, I do not carry weapons, nor can I transport that crate safely across this terrain. I came here only to help you and- please, Tashi."

She smiled at him softly, touched by his offer to both of them, even if only she remained to receive it. "Fine, you great softie. Garlgrath, give me a boost, will you?"

The Krogan made easy work of hoisting Tashi up onto Artas's back, and as she slumped over her large friend, the six of them made the journey back to the camp. 

\---

It would be evident to any who visited the camp that it had never been intended as a long term home by any of the residents. Yet here they were, years later, soldiering on in collapsing junk houses and hole-ridden tents. No one knew for sure quite what they were all afraid of, but they all knew with absolute certainty that whatever it was that they feared was coming, and coming soon. The council liked to keep things quiet, it's far easier to rule an ignorant populous, but silence from the top will not quiet the whispers at the bottom. And everyone here was someone who had lived or worked right at the bottom of the galactic heap, so they had heard the stories. They saw the signs. They were the people who listened at the crack under the council's door. Others in the galaxy would bury their heads, believe the lines that the news broadcasts fed them. Others might feel something in their gut, they would join the alliance and prepare. However, the people of the camp had been ground under too many heels to remain ignorant or believe anyone was coming to save the day, more specifically them. They wanted out. They were going to run. 

Although you'd have a hard time convincing most people in the galaxy that there would be anywhere to run to when shit finally hit the fan. Sure, you could go join some far-out colony, perhaps you could wait until the last moment and open a relay into uncharted space and hope that no one and nothing followed. The people here, though, they dreamed bigger. They were those who had been in the right place at the right time, heard the right whispers between soldiers and mercs, sold the right secrets to diplomats, hacked the right broadcasts, and between them, they'd worked it out. Whatever was coming was something that would threaten every inch of the galaxy. Hiding and fighting weren’t options. They would have to say goodbye to the Milky Way entirely. 

Work had started a few years earlier on their golden ticket, a hodge-podge of stolen and reclaimed technologies that they prayed would guide them safely to a new home. The work was hard, often hindered by misfiring tech that would take out whole chunks of their ark and nosey galactic law enforcement looking to take back what they had claimed. It was slow, too, which chipped away at their resolve. That was until news spread of the Andromeda Initiative seeking recruits, confirming their fears but also motivating them with confirmation that they had been right all along. A hopeful few applied, but all soon returned, deemed too unfit, too sick, too poor, too criminal to be allowed to survive impending doom. They were not the kind of people anyone wanted to save, or have representing their races in another galaxy. But that would stop none of them. What they lacked in resources and respectability, they made up for with gritty determination, ingenuity, and some damn good thieves and smugglers.

Tashi was proud of the place she now called home, and the people she now called family. 

As the group entered the camp, they received the odd greeting from the early-rising residents. Most had not woken yet, but the cooks and early birds were exiting their tents and shacks, ready for a day of hard work. Tevli, a quiet little Volus, and a Quarian called Dreysha, sat together by a pile of vegetables, prepping them for cooking. Teiley, the elderly Vorcha, tended several large pots of bubbling stew, grumbling to themself about spices. As the group continued on to the construction site, they passed parents enjoying a quiet few moments before their children woke and labourers preparing for the first breakfast call. 

As they rounded a corner, past a rudimentary camp clinic, the construction site came into view. It was still a way out from their current position, and yet the almost-complete craft still dwarfed everything in sight. Tashi stopped dead in her tracks, awestruck. It had come on so much since she had last seen it. Progress on their ark always seemed so slow when she was at camp, but now she could really see it, a patchwork of technology that was going to take them all beyond the stars. Garlgrath stopped beside her and clapped her shoulder with such strength that she had to grab him to steady herself.

"She's a beauty, isn't she?" he said, and Tashi nodded dumbly, "And thanks to you, she might actually get off the damn ground."

"We still gotta see if I got that damn thing out of there in one piece." muttered Tashi, resuming her treck towards the construction site. 

"Better have," said Tharen between heavy breaths as he heaved the crate over gravel, "Or I- am going to have some words- with those damn guards. Might- just do it anyway."

"This isn't the time for revenge, kids." Garlgrath said, in a tone that would have even the most fearsome, battle-hardened Krogan falling in line. Of course, Tharen was not a Krogan, but an idiot.

"Never thought- I'd see the day when- the great Garlgrath- says it's not the time for revenge."

"Even I have the sense to know what is more important. We have lives on the line here." Garlgrath shot back, "Now, if we fail, then we can go kill those motherfuckers."

"Deal."

—

Tashi sat amongst a group of children, most of whom ran around the immediate area wildly, dodging around the adults who halfheartedly tried to tame them while carrying on idle conversation. One child, in particular, was clinging to Tashi, a quiet little thing who rarely ever said a word and would spook at her own shadow. She had a fondness for perhaps only three people out of everyone at the camp, and Tashi was lucky enough to be one of them. It had pained Tashi to leave Meyleth, especially when she had been struggling so much with her biotics lately. Her only living mother was a human who didn't have a clue about how to help the little girl. But Tashi had left for all of them, for their future. She tried to remind herself it was worth it, that little Mayleth would understand and appreciate it one day. 

Another child sat in front of Tashi as she carefully braided his hair, a skill she had once picked up from a human lover out on some colony she cased fifty years back. Her fingers were clumsy as she twisted the straggly, straw-like hair, damaged and brittle from the harsh conditions of the camp. She admired how the children never seemed to mind the bitterness of life, so long as they had food in their bellies and someone to hug. 

She couldn't quite see from where she as sat, but she could hear the noises of tools and moving metal coming from the ark. The arrival of the part Tashi had brought had invigorated the workers, and they had been working flat out for days, taking barely a break. They'd spent months only making minor repairs and tweaks, it seemed to do them some good to have something more significant to work on. Work on the ark often went like that, a few weeks of working flat out followed by months of minor work and gossipping. The cycle continued more times than Tashi could count, the workers killing time until the next vital part plundered from a well-funded project or transport vessel. But no matter how many walls they hit, no one ever really downed tools. No one knew when it would happen, whatever it ended up being. If it happened now, right now, they would all be doomed. Until they could at least get off the ground, work would continue without pause. 

Tashi was yanked from her thoughts by a shrill scream a little way off. Seeing the parents just glance at each other, she dropped the hair in her hands and rose to her feet, Mayleth still clinging to her. She hurried over to the source of the noise, finding a crying Salarian who clutched at their skinned knees. Other children stood nearby, pointing fingers to avoid the ire of their parents. Tashi shooed them away and knelt by the child, gently shushing them and trying to get a look at their wounds. They were such a wee thing, looked to be no more than six months old, but the Salarian's rapid growth made them easily as tall as the other children they had been playing with. 

"Hey, kid, you OK?" Tashi asked, speaking softly as to not startle the child. They shook their head. "Can I see?" The child shook their head again, curling themself up tightly to hide their hands and knees. "Alright, then. Can I take you to your grown-up instead?"

Folks around here were always careful to not say 'parent' if they didn't know the child well enough. They all came from all sorts of backgrounds, the kids were no different. Plenty had lost parents to the dangerous work that came with robbing half the galaxy blind to build an ark and then trying to get all those pieces to play nicely together. There were even those who had ended up at camp as stowaways, picked up by mercs with an ounce of pity left, or even traded for as slaves to be freed later. 

The child nodded slowly, so Tashi scooped them into her arms. The child pointed the way, and she set off through the camp, passing trading tents and lively conversation. They eventually reached the repairs tent, staffed by a Salarian that Tashi recognised. Mandel, a weapons tech who used to work for Angvir Industries until they were injured pretty severely in an on-site accident and were put on permanent leave. When the older Salarian heard the crying, they dropped their tools with a great clatter and hobbled out of the tent as fast as they were able, slowed considerably by a hand-made prosthetic consisting primarily of scrap. 

"Oh, my sweet, what happened?" they cooed to their child, lifting them gently into their arms. The child did not answer; instead, they wailed far louder than before, already a clear master at tugging on heartstrings. 

"Didn't really see much, but I think they might have fell when they were playing with the other kids."

"Always those kids, I've told you about them, haven't I?" the older Salarian said as they set the child upon a workbench, fetching some of their limited personal medigel supplies. "You know those kids are stronger than you, I always say they'll hurt you! And that Krogan lad, you know what their kind is like-"

Tashi quietly exited the tent, not seeing the need to listen to a worried carer's somewhat xenophobic tirade. She passed by a cluster of people eating lunch, swapping ludicrous tales, embellished by everyone who had told it before them. Tashi had learned long ago that there was truth in every story if you knew where to look, so she grabbed a bowl of Asari-safe stew from the cooks and sat by the group to eavesdrop.

"Good to see yer back, Tashi." Said Valah, with a sweet smile on her face. She was easily the oldest human at the camp, many wondered why she stayed. There was no way they would ever have the necessary tech for her to survive launch after her recent illness, which she had barely survived. Yet she stayed anyway, a smile on her face, telling stories to any who would listen, too weak to do the hard work that needed doing. Some did grumble about her being a burden, but most people found her pleasant company. Tashi had gotten into a punch up with some other folks about Valah's worth to the camp before, forcefully reasoning that her hopefully attitude was a valuable resource. Hope is not something you could trade for. Most people had the sense to keep their opinions about Valah to themselves these days. 

"Mhm, ain't getting rid of me that easy." Tashi shot back through a half-chewed mouthful of stew. 

"How'd it go then? Ain't seen your lass yet, she about?" asked an older Turian. The group went quiet, and Tashi stared at her stew.

"Seriously, Nakron?"

"What?"

"She- you know…"

"Oh. Damn, Tashi, sorry to hear that."

Tashi shrugged, not feeling quite so up to conversation anymore, and the rest of the group went back to their gossip.   
  
"It's them Cerberus bastards, I'm telling you." Muttered a merc, judging by his armour.

"That's a fairy tale, man.

"I'm telling you!" the merc insisted, earning him eye-rolls from most of the group. "Worked a job on Klensal, didn't I? Group of them came in, cleared shop, killed everyone! Ruthless."

"How come you're still here to talk crap then?"

"Well, I hid, obviously."

"Oh, obviously."

The conversation lulled as people went back to their stew, and Valah pulled out a scarf she had been working on to show Tashi. Tashi didn't know enough about working with fibre to know if it was any good, but it looked beautiful to her eye. Valah was partway through explaining her stitch choices when the merc went off on one again. Valah and Tashi just rolled their eyes, more than used to his shell-shocked rants by now.

"Look, I know you all think I'm nutty-"

_"Because you are."_

"Yeah, OK. Yeah, I am, you would be too if you'd seen what I'd seen." The merc rambled, and the group continued to laugh at him, all having their share of battle-related trauma. "I know what I seen. Other people seen it too. They're real, and they're up to something, and I tell you, they were in on what happened at the Citadel-"

The table descended into raucous laughter, even Valah couldn't help but smile a little behind her scarf. 

"That shit was just some system failure."

"Nah way, some new species if you ask me. Some idiot going round, opening relays-"

"I think we'd all know if relays were getting opened again."

"Like hell, sat on our arses out here, rest of the galaxy could get wiped out, and we'd be the last to hear about it!"

Valah chuckled lightly, putting away the scarf she had been working on. "These boys and their tall tales. Not like you, you've got your head screwed on right."

Tashi frowned as the group kept arguing. "I dunno. I mean, somethings up. Me and Naran, we didn't get a proper look, but the last job was weird. Never seen guards like those."

Valah rested her hand on Tashi's. "It's a big galaxy, love. New doesn't mean whatever those lot are blathering on about."

"Yeah, your right." Tashi sighed, trying not to think too hard about the uniforms that she knew only from the merc's tales, the talk she'd overheard of vanishing colonies…

The conversation between the group had been forcibly dragged back to Cerberus, which prompted several people to leave the table, more than tired with the topic. 

"Why is it always human conspiracies with you lot?" Nakron said, exasperated. "You know there's other species, too, right?"

"Cerberus ain't human! They're synthetics, bred for murder."

"I heard they were AIs."

"Idiots," Nakron muttered. "They're called Cerberus, if they even exist, that makes them human."

"How you work that one out?" shot back the merc, pointing his spoon at Nakron.

"It's some old human legend, ain't it."

"Never heard of it."

"Well, _it is._ "

"How the hell would you know that, you old fart?" joked a Krogan who had little to say in the conversation until he found an opportunity to rib on his old friend. 

"Because. I have an… interest."

"Bullshit."

"OK, OK. I might have been trying to impress someone when I was stationed near a human colony once."

"Ha! Look at this guy, trying to get in some human's pants by learning about old legends!"

"She was an Asari historian, _actually._ "

"And?" asked the Krogan, elbowing his friend in jest.

"What do you think?" said Nakron, with a grin.

"You old dog!"

Tashi had lost all interest in the conversation and stood up from the table. She walked through the camp, head down, thinking to herself and avoiding anyone who might want to catch her attention. Her train of thought went back to the earlier conversations, to the talk of Cerberus. Years back, you'd barely hear mention of them, everyone except that one guy in a bar who wasn't quite right believed them a myth. Things were starting to change, though, people were beginning to believe in all sorts of things. Especially on the outskirts of Alliance space, the stories were starting to pile up. The stories varied wildly and contradicted each other, sometimes they were elite death squads with ships you couldn't detect coming or reprogrammed Geth. She'd even heard of clone armies. But whoever it was who killed Naran… they were like her. Better armed and trained, sure, but they looked just like someone you would run across anywhere. The only thing that stood out to her was the orange and black insignia, like nothing that she recognised. 

She reminded herself that now was not the time for vengeance, no matter how much she ached to be without Naran. Still, if the galaxy handed it to her on a plate, she wouldn't refuse. 

—

It was just dawn when Tashi climbed up the rock overlooking camp to meet Garlgrath. The suns lit the land in a beautiful haze that Tashi was intent on taking the time to memorise. She'd never been one to call anywhere home, but if they pulled this off, if they left the Milky Way… she wanted to remember the closest to home that she'd ever had. Garlgrath seemed to be of the same mind, sitting in silence for a while before he spoke. 

"So. How you doing, Tashi?"

"Fine."

Garlgrath grunted.

"Is that a problem?" Tashi asked, a little harsher than she had intended.

"Yep. You're carrying on as normal, smiling…"

"Can't see why that's a problem."

"Naran is dead. Stop pretending you're OK."

Tashi drew her knees up to her chest, hiding her face from Garlgrath. "I'm still fine. It happens. I'm fine."

"Tashi," Garlgrath said, an uncharacteristic softness to his voice as he put an arm around Tashi, "If carrying on is easier for you, fine. But you aren't gonna sit there and tell me you're OK."

Tashi leaned against Garlgrath, sniffling, as he stroked her reassuringly. 

"Anyway, if you need a distraction, I've got a job for you. Need something picking up."

Tashi wiped her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. "Course, you always do."

"Up for it?"

She sighed. "I'm- I'm not sure. After… I've not worked without her for so long. No one else?"

"Sure, I could ask someone else. And they could screw it up."

"Like we did."

Garlgrath squeezes her gently. "No, you didn't. You both knew what you'd signed up for, she knew how important it was. You got the package, despite everything. You brought us hope. You two, you've kept us going a little while longer."

"I don't know how many 'little while longers’ I can handle. Not if I'm going to keep losing people."

"We always lose people."

"Yeah but this is-"

"Different." Sighed Garlgrath, "Yeah, I know. She was a good 'un."

They sat in silence for a while. It really was different this time. Naran had got Tashi through every loss with a kiss and a drink. She'd lost her stability, and she was crumbling, despite trying to keep up appearances. 

"Tashi, I get it. But it's not many more. I think this might be the last one."

Tashi looked at Garlgrath quizzically.

"Look, I've been keeping this quiet.” He continued, “Don't wanna get people's hopes up, and I really don't want people getting excited and bringing attention on us. But we are on the home stretch here. That ship will fly, right now, if it has to."

"So, what are we waiting for?"

"It's not going to get far enough fast enough as it is. But I know where we can get the parts we need."

"Where?" Tashi asked, a thrill filling her, shoving the grief to the side. There was no way they could be so close, could they?

"Some tech who got kicked off the Andromeda Initiative turned up here while you were gone. Been mining them for information, seems they are working on a second wave of ships. Work is heavily guarded, of course, but grabbing the parts before they are installed is our only chance. No one else in the galaxy has the tech to get out of here, and we sure as hell don't have the time or funding to build it ourselves."

"You sure it will work?" Tashi asked, looking over skeptically at the Frankenstein of an ark.

"Not a bit. But I trust those lot, there hasn't been a piece of tech they've come across that they haven't been able to mash together. I picked them for a reason."

Tashi sighed, slumping against Garlgrath. "Fine. I'm in. But I'm no fighter, the guards were bad enough last time."

"I know. Never said you were going in alone, did I? We only get one shot at this, I'm not letting the mission go bad. Anyway, isn't it time you saw me in action?"

Tashi had seen him in a fight a few times, from camp punch-ups to driving off intruders intent on bringing them all to justice. The camp had also been raided, or rather, attempts were made numerous times by slavers, pirates, and mercs. There had always been casualties, but with Garlgrath at the helm, the camp had always won.

She wondered what he counted as 'action.' 


End file.
